


Everything's just wonderful

by nothingofnote



Category: Andromeda (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 02:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2756903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingofnote/pseuds/nothingofnote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unknown enemy attacks Andromeda without warning or time for them to react.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything's just wonderful

**Author's Note:**

> This was written after rp discussions of possible things to do as plots. The worse the better was the idea.

The lights went dark. In one of the access tunnels Harper didn't dare breathe. He needed to get out of there. Divine knows what was happening since Dylan had shouted for them to get to the _Maru_ to evacuate. Harper's decidedly stubborn streak showed up. He wasn't leaving. The kid from Earth had come too far for that. So he'd hid to stay and help.

"Rommie?" Harper finally whispered. He put his hand to one of the panels next to him. Something blinked and went out with a short in a shower of sparks briefly lighting up the tunnel for a split second. "I'll fix that later." He wanted to laugh. There was going to be a freaking lot for him to fix later. If, of course there _was_ a later. He wasn't so certain that _was_ going to be the case right then. Maybe they'd gone to far into that bad future Trance had been on about. Harper shivered and moved slowly back towards command. 

The engineer poked his head out to peer into the darkness. Was he the only one left on board? Surely Captain Optimistic was still there. He was sure he heard something and ducked back waiting. There he stayed for... well he wasn't sure how long he was there. What he did know was that he was starting to shiver. 

The systems were slowly shutting down. 

After following Dylan to a literal hell and back, nearly dying so many times on the way. Harper snorted, he couldn't believe that was how it was going to end. Magog hadn't killed him. So he was just going to freeze to death. 

There hadn't been any noises for a while when Harper poked his head out again and looked across command. Had that shadow been there before? He wasn't sure. Maybe it was that it was the cold starting to affect him. Slowly he climbed out of his hiding spot and stood up. That shadow wasn't a trick. Well, it wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad. Harper moved forwards a little more and realised the shadow was worryingly human shape. He didn't want to go any closer. He edged around keeping his distance to get to the closest panel.

Harper tried to get the systems back online. At the very least life support so he could find out what happened. The lights on command didn't respond but the air started to warm up, that was something. He did a sweep of the ship. 

Nothing.

There was nothing on the ship.

He checked the _Maru's_ hanger. The ship was gone. He was on his own. At least Beka had got out of there alive. Harper hoped she'd made it to the closest inhabited planet or drift. Probably a drift since she wasn't all that keen on dirt.

"Rommie?"

He waited.

"Rom-doll?"

Still no response.

"Andromeda?" 

He tried again. 

"C'mon Rommie please?" He frantically tried everything he could think of from the consoles he didn't have to go far to reach. The ships avatar appeared briefly on the main screen before flickering out. "I know you're there...  I need you."

He slammed his hand down on the console.

The lights came on and the _Andromeda Ascendant_ had full power again.

Harper jumped, he wasn't expecting that. Everything suddenly coming back to life like that. The ships avatar stared at him from the main screen again. This time for longer. She didn't say anything she just looked at him. His shoulders dropped and prepared himself to finally look round to see what he feared.

"I know, I'm going." He told the warship. 

Harper turned.

That was Tyr. He hadn't been expecting that. He was sure it was Dylan. Maybe he'd got away with Beka on the _Maru_ after all. If anyone could get away from this it would be them. 

"He'll be back for you, us." Harper added, maybe Dylan didn't expect him to survive so it wasn't as important returning quickly. Andromeda would just power down and wait out the time like the other High Guard ships they'd met. Though hopefully without the going crazy part. 

Harper decided it was then best to leave command to see if Rommie was still functioning. He made his way to the familiar space that was his machine shop first, if she'd been looking for him then that's where they thought he might have gone to ground. It took him a while to get there, he still wasn't clear on what had exactly happened on board so he took care making sure he was still alone on the ship. Andromeda's face appeared now and then on the screens as he went. Still she said nothing to him. But she was there, that was at least something. He had his route a little clearer. Machine shop 17 then the slipstream core, another place they might look for him and a place he could get control of the ship and protect. Harper almost laughed out loud at himself for thinking that. 

If Tyr couldn't do anything to stop what had happened what chance did he have? None.

Harper peered around the door to the machine shop as it slid back. Nothing in there. Just his usual mess, half finished projects and an arm. He hadn't leave an arm haphazardly draped over that workbench. He scurried over to the item and found the rest of Rommie still attached, mostly. It looked like she'd pulled her arm away trying to stay up. Easily fixed, though how she'd be when she was powered back up that was a different question. 

He crouched over to sit her up so he could check her over. A quick inspection made it clear that the damage to her arm was the worst physically. He gathered up all the tools he needed and set about fixing her up. Just as he'd said, he needed her. When he was sure her arm was sorted he sat down next to her as he initialized her start up. He carefully put his arm around her shoulders, she'd at least have one familiar face to wake up to.

Harper closed his eyes. He wasn't sure how long he'd been awake for then but suddenly he was tired. Unusual for the manic ball of energy he was. If this was a mission with Dylan he'd be expecting to be listening to some tale of of a past mission or something to keep him going. There was just silence. All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. It helped knowing Rommie was there, after all the adrenaline rush had to be wearing off and he felt safe with her. Enough to fall asleep.

\--

Harper found himself curled up with his head in Rommie's lap as he woke up. Her arm over him in a protective manner. She must have rebooted at some point and stayed with Harper to protect him. He hoped that was the reason as he looked up at her face before he sat up.

She knew. How could she not have known. The data would have been shared the instant she came back online. That was if she didn’t know before. Harper didn’t know what happened before. He’d been hiding. Slowly he reached out for Rommie’s hand and held it in his as he sat up. 

“I’m going to the slipstream core.” He moved so he was crouched down before her. “It’s safer there. We’ll have full control.” He slowly stood up, keeping her hand in his hoping she’d stand with him. “We can find the _Maru_. Get Beka, Trance and Beka back.” It was too late for Tyr. “C’mon Rommie, Dylan’s waiting for us to save his…” He trailed off. She wasn’t moving. Dylan had left her. Not out of choice but still she’d been left. It hurt. Harper knew how it felt. Maybe she knew more than he did. He didn’t want to know. 

“I’m going to the core.” He had to get somewhere safe. In case… well he wasn’t sure exactly what was going to come back to finish him off. He didn’t exactly want to leave Rommie but it looked like there may not be that much of a choice to it. “I’ll be back for you then.” He wasn’t sure how true that was going to be. He carefully let go of her hand. With one last look back he was out the door and making his way through the ship to the slipstream core. He had a couple of moments that sent him diving for the nearest maintenance hatch but there was nothing on board, even the fish hadn’t escaped.  
Harper entered the slipstream core and froze. He finally had the answer why Rommie wouldn’t come along with him. He needed the access from there but how could he stay when he knew it wasn’t safe there either. If Dylan hadn’t made it then the chances of Beka getting away were even slimmer. The _Maru_ had probably been destroyed. He sat down next to where he found Dylan. His back against the railing.

“Out of all of us, I thought it would be you, well, if we don’t include Trance. Why? Why me. Why did you have to go and save me. If you meant to or not. What good am I? You guys are my family. I belonged here. I haven’t had that since…” He ran a hand over his face. “Well a while. I lost everything again. Rommie’s a mess, she loved you, you know. I know all Captain Rules And Regulations, you wouldn’t have anything, I don’t even know if you saw it. She’s hurting pretty bad. I don’t know how I’m meant to get her going again.” Not exactly true. Harper did know a way. It just wasn’t what he wanted to have to do. 

“How is someone like me supposed to carry on your freakin’ crazy mission.” He sniffed. If he cried then that was fine. No one to witness it, no one to call him out. He felt so hollow he wasn’t sure he could cry. 

Harper didn’t even cry for his parents. There was no time for that then. He just got on with keeping himself alive. Giving himself that distraction of making life hell for the Nietzscheans along with the sadly normal task of finding enough food and a safe place to sleep. Not that he was alone in that position and then the number of people he could truly trust with his life was one. Here he had more. Beka, Dylan, Trance and Rommie. He was even starting to come around to Tyr more.

Now they were all gone. 

His family were gone. 

Harper was on his own. 

Again.


End file.
